Google has added two new experimental Gmai features this past Thursday that let you organize labels in a folder-like fashion and sneak peek inside messages without opening them. Nested labels allow users to better organize a bunch of labels attached to their message. Manu Cornet, Google’s software engineer explained how the nested labels feature works in a blog post:

Name your label with slashes (/) to make it the child of another. For example, let’s say you wanted to create a simple hierarchy with a “Home” label, and inside it a “Family” and a “Vacation” label.

You can also expand and collapse nested labels to save space in the Gmail interface, Google noted. Bold parent label means there are unread messages in some of its collapsed child labels.

The message sneak peek feature allows you to preview a message without opening it, simply by right-clicking a message in your inbox to bring up a handy preview pane. A keyboard shortcut (“h”) makes previewing a message even faster. Note that the messages you peak at stay unread.

Being the experimental Labs features, you need to turn on nested labels and message sneak peek by going to the Gmail Labs tab under Settings and enabling the “Nested Labels” and “Message Sneak Peak.” Next, click “Save” and wait for the Gmail interface to reload.

Christian’s Opinion

The nested labels feature is a welcome addition that will help me reduce clutter in the Gmail interface. Being a heavy label user, I was yearning after a folder-like labels nesting ever since Google added labels functionality.

When it comes to peeking at messages, this is also one of those features that makes you wonder why on Earth didn’t Google enable it before, especially considering that some rival webmail providers have had this for years. All in all, those two enhancements show that Google is adamant on improving Gmail and taking user input seriously.